It's time for Oilers to play Holloway over Kane in the playoffs
It’s time for the Edmonton Oilers to play Dylan Holloway over Evander Kane in the lineup.
After an incredible two-goal performance by Holloway in last night’s 5-4 OT loss in Game 2 of their series against the LA Kings, all while playing on the fourth line, it’s clear that the 22-year-old deserves a much better look.
Holloway was arguably the team’s best player on the ice, yet he only played 9:42 all night, which is second-last on the entire team, above only Sam Carrick. If the Oilers are in the business of winning games in the playoffs, they will have to up that number by a significant amount.
First career #StanleyCup Playoff goal ✅
Second career Stanley Cup Playoff goal ✅
Have a night, Dylan Holloway 🤩 pic.twitter.com/oJkGsroTbB
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 25, 2024
This is part of an upward trend for Holloway that started after being called up from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors just a few weeks ago. In the final six games of the regular season with the Oilers, the former first-round draft choice was excellent, notching three goals and five points in that span. That was more than the four points he was able to manage in the 31 NHL games he played earlier in the season before the call-up.
He did that while playing on the team’s third line alongside Ryan McLeod and Corey Perry. It was a trio that was starting to click with each other but was broken up when Kane was cleared to return to the lineup. As a result, Holloway was bumped down to the fourth line with Carrick and Mattias Janmark to start the playoffs.
While Kane hasn’t been bad in the first two games of the playoffs, he hasn’t made nearly as much of his opportunity as Holloway has.
Dylan Holloway was FIRED up to score his first career #StanleyCup Playoff goal. 🗣️
Catch the 3rd period live on Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ pic.twitter.com/E5InLJZMCn
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 25, 2024
This doesn’t necessarily mean demoting Kane down to the fourth line while Holloway takes his spot. There could be a way to get Holloway into the top six while keeping Kane right where he is.
It would require a tiny bit of surgery to the bottom nine forwards:
- Line 2: Nugent-Hopkins-Draisaitl-Holloway
- Line 3: Kane-McLeod-Foegele
- Line 4: Janmark-Carrick-Perry
Moving Warren Foegele down the lineup just makes sense as he hasn’t been much of a factor in the playoffs early on, but will provide two shooting threats on the wings. Holloway up with Leon Draisaitl adds speed and a bit more of a hot hand. He certainly couldn’t hurt that line.
Moving Perry down to the fourth line just strengthens the depth of the forward group. It might also be time to see what Connor Brown can do in place of Janmark, if not for just a single game.
You have to put your players in a position to succeed if you want to win in the NHL, especially young players. Holloway has had a slow start to his professional career but it looks like he has finally arrived as an impactful player. Head coach Kris Knoblauch needs to feed into that, not stifle it.
That starts with increasing his opportunity.
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